Guest guest Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Hi , I also had a hard time figuring out when to transition from crushing meds and using liquids to giving pills to my son. I think he was also around five years old. You can start slowly, by getting a pill cutter and cutting the Arava or MTX into two or three pieces and feeding them to her in a bit of pudding or whatever. Not too much so you know if she spits it out. If she's ok with that, make the size of the pieces larger until you are giving her a whole pill in the pudding. Then you can give her the pill with a thick liquid like a spoonful of milkshake or melted ice cream. If that's ok, then use milk or a thick drink like apricot necter. Later you can try water, but the pills taste pretty bad, even my 12 year old still uses a flavored drink to mask the taste. The thalomid is a capsule so you might have to wait with that until she gets comfortable with swallowing pills. And if she still wants the pudding, I wouldn't push it, she'll catch on eventually. Good luck. (and Ezra, 12 yr. old systemic). From: Farrington <lesliesufarr@...> Subject: swallowing pills Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 3:27 AM Just wondering if anyone has any hints on when to stop crushing pills and putting them in pudding and when to try swallowing the pills. My daughter chews her arava and folic acid in the morning, but I crush the prednisone, crush the methotrexate, and open and mix the thalomid each into pudding. She is five and handles all of them well as long as we have a cool variety of sugarfree gum to choose from after. I am just concerned that with the bad taste she will gag, throw them up or waste them and i won't know whether it went in or not. any ideas? and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JIA since 9 months of age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 it might also help to let her choose her drinks to try them with i have to say, i always found at around age 5 as well that i prefered juice to swallow pills esp yukky nasty ones like pred... EDwwww that is i swear the worse and in food, sometimes, you just end up tasting it which can damange you for life... no im kidding.. kinda .. but yeh... choclate milk is nice too.. hehe.... smoothies... but mostly i went for juice and did pretty well most times as long as they were small and if not.. mom cut them in half... i found taking some juice helped to moisten/flavor the mouth.... than putting the pill in and some more juice and than swallowing it down as if i was just taking in some food. I think a lot of it is emotional anxiety.. even NOW, i hit times where i feel like my throat will close off from taking meds and i have to spit them back out eventually if i can't force myself to mentally relax my throat to open back up and swallow.. it's like i keep thinking about it too much and all of the sudden i cant swallow.... Im 31.. been doing this since I was 5 well before btu had liquid.... and I STILL get stuck sometimes so.. yeh.. dont feel bad! =) =) Giving kids choices always helps and doing your best not to make a big huge deal out of it helops too so they dont feel your anxiety and think there is something to worry about. ... Also chewing pills is WAY more nastier than swallowing them so that might be incentive??? Becoming more of a big girl and swalliwng. less nastiness and more grown up 'ness' ahha... Oh the important things of being a kid.. =) Issadora Issadora On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 8:18 PM, <lisa_michael@...>wrote: > Hi , > > I also had a hard time figuring out when to transition from crushing meds > and using liquids to giving pills to my son. I think he was also around five > years old. You can start slowly, by getting a pill cutter and cutting the > Arava or MTX into two or three pieces and feeding them to her in a bit of > pudding or whatever. Not too much so you know if she spits it out. If she's > ok with that, make the size of the pieces larger until you are giving her a > whole pill in the pudding. Then you can give her the pill with a thick > liquid like a spoonful of milkshake or melted ice cream. If that's ok, then > use milk or a thick drink like apricot necter. Later you can try water, but > the pills taste pretty bad, even my 12 year old still uses a flavored drink > to mask the taste. The thalomid is a capsule so you might have to wait with > that until she gets comfortable with swallowing pills. And if she still > wants the pudding, I wouldn't push it, she'll catch on eventually. > Good luck. (and Ezra, 12 yr. old systemic). > > > From: Farrington <lesliesufarr@... <lesliesufarr%40> > > > Subject: swallowing pills > < %40> > Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 3:27 AM > > Just wondering if anyone has any hints on when to stop crushing pills and > putting them in pudding and when to try swallowing the pills. My daughter > chews her arava and folic acid in the morning, but I crush the prednisone, > crush the methotrexate, and open and mix the thalomid each into pudding. > She is five and handles all of them well as long as we have a cool variety > of sugarfree gum to choose from after. I am just concerned that with the > bad taste she will gag, throw them up or waste them and i won't know whether > it went in or not. any ideas? and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JIA since 9 > months of age. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 , I think the easiest for my Allie to swallow were the methotrexate pills. Use a straw.....the force of the water forces the pills down easily. Practice with mini M & M's. Use a pill cutter to make the pills smaller. It is so much easier when they decide they will swallow a pill. I think Caroline Pranke was 4 when she started to swallow pills, so I don't think it is too early to give it a try. You also have more options for medication when they start to do that as well. and Allie (Poly 12) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 When we started on pills he was around 6 . I used small candy sprinkles to get him used to swallow then we switched to mini M & Ms he was sone able to swallow almost anything. We also had him drink with a straw some when he was taking the pills it seams to get the motion a little eaiser.Good luck Wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Try starting by just swallowing one of the smallest pills.When she is able to do it comfortably go for 2 and not necessarily at the same time and so on. My son could swallow 5 pills all at once at 4. We started him with a little Clarinex.Another thing is a bottle drink has a faster flow and helps the pills go down. Becki and 10 systemic ________________________________ From: Farrington <lesliesufarr@...> Sent: Sunday, February 1, 2009 9:27:46 PM Subject: swallowing pills Just wondering if anyone has any hints on when to stop crushing pills and putting them in pudding and when to try swallowing the pills. My daughter chews her arava and folic acid in the morning, but I crush the prednisone, crush the methotrexate, and open and mix the thalomid each into pudding. She is five and handles all of them well as long as we have a cool variety of sugarfree gum to choose from after. I am just concerned that with the bad taste she will gag, throw them up or waste them and i won't know whether it went in or not. any ideas? and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JIA since 9 months of age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 My five year old (non JIA child) just started taking pills … the nurse told us to “try” with TicTacs to see if he could swallow them. Whether he could or not determined what med he was given! Sherry ne 7½ Systemic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 One more thing---people think if they can't swallow to tilt their head back---but you don't want to do that. Tilting the head back opens up the airway and blocks the swallow. You need to tuck your chin if you are having troubles swallowing--so you might encourage your child to tuck to help swallow. Sometimes it can help to put the fluid in the mouth, then push the pill between the lips and then swallow---that is how my daughter did it for years. She hated the taste. And even at 16 she was hiding her medicine in a spoonful of ice cream. e, mom to 'joe' 22 poly/lupus/? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 my rummy told me the same thing try ticTacs and M & M to learn how to swallow pills and when the Rummy recmend takeing fish oil capletes fress them becuas you dont choke on them that way... Hugs > > > > My five year old (non JIA child) just started taking pills … the nurse told > us to " try " with TicTacs to see if he could swallow them. Whether he could > or not determined what med he was given! > > Sherry > > ne 7½ Systemic > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 thanks,all great ideas, we wills start with practice tic tacs, her 7 year old cousin had some this weekend and they both thought they were prettty hot to be able to have some, so I bet she would like getting some just for herself to try to learn to swallow her meds easier, etc. be more grown up as you suggested. thanks, and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JRA since 9 months old. > > From: Farrington <lesliesufarr <lesliesufarr% 40> > > > Subject: swallowing pills > @group s.com < %40gr oups.com> > Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 3:27 AM > > Just wondering if anyone has any hints on when to stop crushing pills and > putting them in pudding and when to try swallowing the pills. My daughter > chews her arava and folic acid in the morning, but I crush the prednisone, > crush the methotrexate, and open and mix the thalomid each into pudding. > She is five and handles all of them well as long as we have a cool variety > of sugarfree gum to choose from after. I am just concerned that with the > bad taste she will gag, throw them up or waste them and i won't know whether > it went in or not. any ideas? and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JIA since 9 > months of age. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Try having them suck through a straw when they are taking a pill, it really works!!! Just stick the pill on their tongue and then suck the fluid up though a straw. I know many kids who have learnt pill taking this way. My son was 6 and he would have 8 pills in his hand and take them all at once. Once the fear has gone, its easy for them.Hugs..Helen DH Dan (24)(17)(15)Zachary(12)(9) (8) @...: lesliesufarr@...: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 19:34:37 -0800Subject: Re: swallowing pills thanks,all great ideas, we wills start with practice tic tacs, her 7 year old cousin had some this weekend and they both thought they were prettty hot to be able to have some, so I bet she would like getting some just for herself to try to learn to swallow her meds easier, etc. be more grown up as you suggested. thanks, and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JRA since 9 months old.>> From: Farrington <lesliesufarr <lesliesufarr% 40>> >> Subject: swallowing pills> @group s.com < %40gr oups.com>> Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 3:27 AM>> Just wondering if anyone has any hints on when to stop crushing pills and> putting them in pudding and when to try swallowing the pills. My daughter> chews her arava and folic acid in the morning, but I crush the prednisone,> crush the methotrexate, and open and mix the thalomid each into pudding.> She is five and handles all of them well as long as we have a cool variety> of sugarfree gum to choose from after. I am just concerned that with the> bad taste she will gag, throw them up or waste them and i won't know whether> it went in or not. any ideas? and Jana 5 y.o. systemic JIA since 9> months of age.>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Just wanted to pass on this tip. Have the child put the pill in their mouth and let them take a drink through a straw. The pill will go down every time. I seen this in a magazine and it has worked well for us. Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 We do gum ball or pixie stick vitamins (his choice) For his meds he is on risperdal and he gets a shot one a month or so which for him is easier than daily pillsOn Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 1:40 PM, r_woman2 <me2ruth@...> wrote: > > We've tried everything, (straws work for mom very well lol) but because of his sensory issues, he starts gagging when anything is in his mouth. No meds, no vitamins, we are so sad. And if it's crushed, and it tastes anything out of what he is expecting, that;s a no no too. My son with Asperger is 14 and we've never gotten him to take pills. Have you tried gummies? They even make gummy vitamins for adults. Our psychiatrist says she can even get the psychiatric meds in liquid form, although we've managed to stay off them so far. My son will take liquid meds or chewable meds if pushed. Another thing I do is let him pick from a selection of chewables/liquid etc. It helps put him in a more acceptable frame of mind if he's had a choice. Ruth -- AutismOnTheGo.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I'm trying to find a compound pharmacy to make gummies from the ones I want to give him (B5, Omega, Zinc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 > > I'm trying to find a compound pharmacy to make gummies from the ones I want to give him (B5, Omega, Zinc) I have found gummies for B vitamins and omega (as well as others I don't care about). They are for adults, so you won't find them in the kiddie section. But I don't think the doses are too much for kids (mine are 14--twins). I'm at work, or I'd give you the name of the company. The only thing I think you can't get gummy are minerals like iron (and I'm guessing zinc). I have sons, so I can live without the iron. I didn't think my kids would go for the omega since to me--I think because I know what they are--they taste slightly fishy. But my kids had no problems with them. Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I was good to go at two weeks for large capsules.On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 12:01 PM, toughgirl126 <toughgirl126@...> wrote: I had my sleeve done 1/12/09 and I am wondering when some of you have started to swallow your meds instead of 'drinking' them. There are a couple small pills I take and it seems it would go down ok but would love to hear input from others. Thanks. Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Hi, For me I think it was about 20 days from the date of the surgery. I would mash my meds up into a power form and put them in a little applesauce and that is how I got my meds down for the 1st 20 or 25 days or so days. Then I could only take one pill at a time with a small amount of water. It took me almost 2 months before I could take my meds all at one time. I also had a hiatus hernia repaired that I didn't know I had at the time of the WLS, and so that made swallowing a little more difficult for me too. Good luck with you new sleeve and enjoy where it is going to take you. You will be amazed at how much easier it gets as time goes on. Take care, Suzanne In a message dated 03/10/09 14:34:54 Pacific Daylight Time, toughgirl126@... writes: I had my sleeve done 1/12/09 and I am wondering when some of you have started to swallow your meds instead of 'drinking' them. There are a couple small pills I take and it seems it would go down ok but would love to hear input from others. Thanks.Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Dr. A told me not to swallow pills for 3 mos. I'm going to write and ask again. sleeved 1/13/09 From: SuzanneSH <SuzanneSH@...>Subject: Re: Swallowing Pills Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 3:51 PM Hi, For me I think it was about 20 days from the date of the surgery. I would mash my meds up into a power form and put them in a little applesauce and that is how I got my meds down for the 1st 20 or 25 days or so days. Then I could only take one pill at a time with a small amount of water. It took me almost 2 months before I could take my meds all at one time. I also had a hiatus hernia repaired that I didn't know I had at the time of the WLS, and so that made swallowing a little more difficult for me too. Good luck with you new sleeve and enjoy where it is going to take you. You will be amazed at how much easier it gets as time goes on. Take care, Suzanne In a message dated 03/10/09 14:34:54 Pacific Daylight Time, toughgirl126@ hotmail.com writes: I had my sleeve done 1/12/09 and I am wondering when some of you have started to swallow your meds instead of 'drinking' them. There are a couple small pills I take and it seems it would go down ok but would love to hear input from others. Thanks.Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I was told to crush pills for 30 days, I could swallow them after that. Sue From: foxycruiser@...Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:56:31 -0700Subject: Re: Swallowing Pills Dr. A told me not to swallow pills for 3 mos. I'm going to write and ask again. sleeved 1/13/09 From: SuzanneSH <SuzanneSHaol>Subject: Re: Swallowing Pills Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 3:51 PM Hi, For me I think it was about 20 days from the date of the surgery. I would mash my meds up into a power form and put them in a little applesauce and that is how I got my meds down for the 1st 20 or 25 days or so days. Then I could only take one pill at a time with a small amount of water. It took me almost 2 months before I could take my meds all at one time. I also had a hiatus hernia repaired that I didn't know I had at the time of the WLS, and so that made swallowing a little more difficult for me too. Good luck with you new sleeve and enjoy where it is going to take you. You will be amazed at how much easier it gets as time goes on. Take care, Suzanne In a message dated 03/10/09 14:34:54 Pacific Daylight Time, toughgirl126@ hotmail.com writes: I had my sleeve done 1/12/09 and I am wondering when some of you have started to swallow your meds instead of 'drinking' them. There are a couple small pills I take and it seems it would go down ok but would love to hear input from others. Thanks.Cheryl Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. See how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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